I Took Control of My Money + My Step By Step On How I Became A Smart Spender!

Money is a sensitive topic, and I found that when I stepped into my young professional life I did not have any idea on how to start building my savings or budget myself in a healthy way.

My relationship with budgeting was to spend the absolute minimum amount of money possible and if I did end up spending, a mountain of guilt came with it. Not fun in the least!

I know that you probably feel this same cycle in some way which is why I want to talk about it and give you some ideas on how to spend wisely while saving regularly!

Whether you are a penny pincher or a big spender, developing a healthy relationship with money is absolutely key.

Growing up, I always felt that I never had enough. Even in elementary school I felt scared to spend my allowance money and guilty to buy myself things. As my bank account went up, my feelings of not having enough actually got worse…

I know this is an odd thing to think about but I just couldn’t get my head around this mindset which is why I decided to change my story completely. I started reading and listening to podcasts, asking questions to my family and mentors on how to even know if I had enough!

After all this learning, I went from feeling like I don’t have enough to a mindset of feeling abundant and knowing that money ebbs and flows as I my needs go up and down. I had to show myself that I have enough and that my savings will get me through any emergency that pops up, and that spending money on fun things actually makes me save more in the end!

How is it possible that splurging here and there grows my savings? Well, when I feel good about what I spend my money on I get more excited to earn, and I get smarter about how often and how much I spend each week/month/year...which in turn makes me feel less stressed about my savings because I can keep track of my spending budget.

I also began to really try to understand why I was so fearful of spending so that I could deconstruct this fear and allow myself to see it with a different perspective. Ask yourself, if I were to have a little less in my savings by the end of the day, how would my life change? Often times when I asked myself this question the only answer I have is literally that my account number went down...but I can still afford my rent, my groceries, my gas...and I would reassure myself that I would make the money back easily!

But enough about me...

So how can you start to take control of your finances and actually have fun with it?!

I could go on and on about ways to take control of your finances but it all starts with one big step...logging into your bank account and seeing what you’ve got going on in there! I have to admit, this step is not the most fun but it’s the catalyst to getting you to the fun part!

How much do you currently have? Write it down in your journal.

Now look at your bank statements and I want you to write down how much you spend on your groceries, gas, rent, utilities, and splurging (nights out/clothing/take out/etc.)

After you have categorized these, write down how much you make each month.

Subtract your expenses from your income and see how much you have in savings per month. Do you like that number? Could it be better?

This is a practice that will most likely be the kick in the butt you need to start getting an idea for how much your life costs. Doing this each month has been a total game changer for me and I can guarantee that you will be surprised on how much you can save if you start paying a little more attention.

Now, I want to hear from you! What area in your life do you have the hardest time budgeting for? Tell me in the comments below!